Computer freezes when running RESMAN with VME crate powered down

I have lost the whole day today (thankfully it was only one day) trying to fix this annoying problem, I'm posting here in case someone runs into this same thing in the future.

Ok, the problem I was able to reproduce was:1. Run RESMAN with the crate powered--> OK2. Power down crate.3. Run RESMAN: the whole computer freezes in the "Searching for Statically Configured Devices" step, no way to recover (reboot necessary)

Although this is the problem I was able to reproduce, the system also froze sometimes when not running RESMAN and powering down the crate for cards insertion or extraction.

Here's a page that describes the error: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/53DC9B3C2BCB6C7D862564800051EC9FI was not able to find that page (I found it when I had already solved the problem), probably because you would never expect that a cable whose appearance is completely symmetric is in fact orientation dependent. And, no, my cable (NI original) doesn't come with any labels identifying its ends.

And here are some keywords to ease the discovery of this post using different termsPC Computer Windows XP hangs freezes locks crashes Resman MAX Measurement and Automation Explorer MXI orientation dependant VME crate switched off powered down